Roche Prepares for Fuzeon Launch, as It Focuses on In-Licensing Opportunities

From CDC National Prevention Information Network

January 7, 2003

On Monday, Roche affirmed that its HIV fusion inhibitor Fuzeon (T-20), which it developed in partnership with Trimeris, would be launched in the United States and Europe during the first quarter. At the JPMorgan Chase investor conference in San Francisco, Roche CFO Dr. Erich Hunziker told investors that the company has established production capacity to distribute the drug to about 15,000 patients this year. The makers submitted a new drug application for Fuzeon to the Food and Drug Administration last year and expect a decision by mid-March. The partners plan to administer Fuzeon to refractory HIV patients who previously failed several rounds of highly active antiretroviral therapy. Hunziker would not reveal the estimated price for the drug, but analysts' previous estimates have forecast it would cost about $10,000 a year. Hunziker cautioned investors, as well as activists in the past, to be unemotional about the price, noting that care for a dialysis patient runs about $80,000 per year.

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